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Ten months! How in the world can it be?! This month our sweet girl has grown an incredible amount and even got her first three teeth! The first two came in within the first week of the month and my goodness they are sharp! The third followed about a week or so later and they seem to just keep popping up. Needless to say, this teething business has left us a quite tired! The combination of irregular sleeping patterns and some symptoms from a little cold threw us off a bit since it was the first time she has been sick. It has been fun though to watch her figure out her teeth as she constantly moves her tongue over them. With these new teeth have also come new foods. Her preferences for solid foods seem to change by the day, but she enjoys all of the baby foods we have given her so far. Bread, however, is always a winner (who doesn’t love bread?)!

At the beginning of the month, we bought her a little car that she can ride on and push. It has all kinds of fun buttons to push, but her favorites are the ones that play songs. Every time she pushes them, without fail, she sways back and forth and has the best smile on her face. If you even hum the song it plays, she will start dancing. We just love it! It has been really fun to see her take a stronger interest in her toys and to see which ones she likes the best. Her absolute favorites are her stuffed animals, Elly the elephant, Houston the horse, bunny foo foo and her zebra blankey. You can ask her where they are and she will look around the room for them. Once found, she picks them up and gives them a big hug. We simply adore watching her do this!

During this month’s photoshoot, Rylie Kay learned that she can climb! There was a lot of picking her up and re-situating her, which of course she thought was so much fun. This month I also had to bribe her for the first time with some snacks. She was very entertained by putting the puffs on the chair and eating them from there instead of from her hand. Oh my girl!

The first video shows one of her favorite things to do, make raspberries (or whatever it’s called)! She also does this if she has a toy that moves. And the second video, well that’s just Rylie being Rylie! Enjoy!

Oh Rylie Kay! Our sweet baby is growing so fast and seemed to change so much this month. She has completely mastered crawling and is really fast! Every time we leave her in the nursery at church, they always comment on how fast she is. And boy do we know that! I think she’s pretty impressed with how fast she can go and loves to look down when shes crawling, either to go faster or to watch her legs. It’s so funny to see her do it. She isn’t walking yet, but she loves to stand and walk around things while holding on to them. It definitely won’t be long before she’s off!

She loves puffs and stealing my water bottle for a nice big gulp of water. She doesn’t quite get the whole tipping a normal sippy cup up, but we’ve been so surprised that she’s able to drink out of a real water bottle with a straw. Maybe that’s a normal thing, but I don’t recall seeing it a lot! No teeth, but all of the signs are there (aka hello drool) so we think we’ll see one for sure within the next month.

Of course we just love every little milestone she hits and each new skill she learns. I never realized how gratifying it would be to teach her things and then to see her do them on her own. One of our favorites is playing “catch” with her. She loves to throw the ball to you, sometimes haphazardly, and is so proud after she does it. She can’t wait to get it back and start all over again. She loves to clap and wave. She often waves back at herself, but I’m hesitant to correct her because it’s just so cute!

I think the outtakes below really show how her nine month photo session went, but she did sit still for a few good ones! As shown in the video, she’s incredible animated and loves the sound of her own voice. Oh how I’d love to hear what she’s trying to tell us because she’s always so excited to share. We love our precious little girl and are so blessed to be her parents!

And here are the outtakes! Had to bribe her for some smiles just a bit with her favorite book near the end!

OK, eight months seems so old! Sometimes I look at Rylie and think she looks so grown up already. And then other times I see her completely differently and she looks like such a tiny baby. One thing is for sure though, this girl is tall! Because of this, she looks much older than other babies that are close to her in age.

At eight months, Rylie crawls on her knees, but still does the army crawl if she wants to go somewhere fast. Her movements still look very methodical and planned on when she’s on her knees. Still no teeth, but they’ve got to be coming soon! All of the signs are definitely here! She eats pureed baby food 1-2 times a day and has mastered grabbing and eating puffs by herself. We may try breaking up food into small pieces soon too. I’m so hesitant to move on to the next step in everything, but it’s so much fun to see her progress and be able to do things we’ve been working on. She can wave really well and is starting to figure out that she can wave with just her hand and not her whole arm. So cute! She pulls up on things by herself and can stand for awhile if something has her attention. While holding on, she can also take a few steps to get something she wants if it’s out of her reach. She also LOVES to make noises with her mouth and I was thankful she did it once during the video below because she does it all the time. She can entertain herself for quite awhile making all sorts of funny noises.

Taking her eight month pictures was the most challenging yet! I picked her up and sat her back down from a standing position more times than I could count. These pictures are SO her right now though that I just went with it. The outtakes at the bottom are what the 20 minute photo shoot really looked like! I love how you can see her handprints on the back of the chair in some of the pictures. She was definitely everywhere! Oh how we love this sweet, stubborn and energetic girl!

At seven months, Rylie Kay is definitely mobile! She has the army crawl down and we have been told by several people that she’s the fastest they’ve ever seen! Although she will get on her knees to crawl, she usually just falls forward and goes into army crawl mode. We love how she goes extra fast when she sees one of us and that she’s now able to move to where she wants, when she wants. Of course this is good and bad! When she’s headed toward something she’s not supposed to have (trash can, iHome/clock, fan) she looks back at us, smiles and when we say ‘no’, she smiles even bigger and then continues on her way. She’ll learn in time, I guess!

Still no teeth, but she has shown a lot of the signs that they’re coming! Based on how much she drools and puts stuff in her mouth, we’re actually surprised that we don’t even have any little white buds yet! Her hair continues to be a pretty strawberry blonde color and is starting to even out. We’re interested to see if it turns any more red as she gets older.

At the end of her seventh month, Rylie went to the beach for the first time! We went for a long weekend with Van’s parents and had a great time. Rylie LOVES the water, especially the pool. She enjoyed the ocean, but not as much as the little pool we had set up under the tent. We’re so thankful that our friends suggested we do this and even let us borrow their stuff! She could still enjoy the beach without getting a ton of sand in her eyes/mouth/ears/etc! All three of us are looking forward to many more beach trips in the future!

I thought she was difficult to photograph in some of our previous monthly photoshoots, but seven months definitely proved to be the hardest! She did NOT want to sit still and look at the camera at the same time! No way! She had to explore the chair and everything around it. One of our favorite things to watch her do is feel different textures. She looks mesmerized as she rubs her hands on things, especially soft things. As a softy lover myself, I’d say she gets it from me! She does the same thing with Van’s arm hair and it’s so sweet to watch her rub his arm. She’s still very much a daddy’s girl, which is fine by me. So precious!

Here’s a look at our sweet and very active seven month old! Enjoy the pics, video and of course the out takes at the end!

Already a half of a year old? How can it be?! At times it seems like Rylie Kay has been in our lives forever, while at other times it feels like she was just born. I can’t say enough what a true blessing we consider her to be. It’s no doubt that we’re proud to be her parents!

At her six month check up, she weighed 16 pounds 10 oz (65th percentile) and was 28 1/2 inches long (99th percentile!!). We knew she was tall, if by nothing other than the fact that so many of her pants could pass as capris, but we were surprised to find out that she’s in the 99th percentile!

She can now scoot around to pretty much anywhere she wants, which is fun and nervewracking all at the same time! She is of course drawn to all of the things she can’t have (computer cords, phone chargers, outlets, etc.) and is proving to be stubborn in that she just keeps going back even though we constantly pull her away. Sounds like it’s time to baby proof! For awhile she just scooted around on the carpet and didn’t go on the hardwood floors or in the kitchen. But once she realized she could go there too, she was off! We also started pureed food after her six month appointment and she has done pretty well with it. She’s still such a mess every time we feed her though that I’m often left thinking that bottles and breastfeeding are just so much easier/better! We are learning right along with her though and hopefully soon it won’t be such a chore. So far we’ve tried avocados, green beans and peas. We’re excited to see her reaction to other things and to introduce fruit eventually.

Her six month pictures were so much fun to take. She was very smiley this day and just in a great mood pretty much the whole time. She was definitely over it by the end though and the video at the bottom just cracks me up. I don’t know about you, but when I get frustrated, putting my toes in my mouth always seems like the best idea! Ha! Enjoy these pics of little miss Rylie Kay at six months old!

Hello there! This week has been quite eventful, and it’s only Tuesday! Let me tell you about it…

1. On Saturday afternoon the coil in the bottom of our oven started sparking while I was making cookies for a family birthday party. I turned it off immediately, but it kept sparking! Scary, especially since I’ve never seen anything like that before. Van was napping with Rylie so I woke him up saying that the oven was exploding. Maybe a little exaggerated? Yes, but I didn’t know that this was a normal thing for the kind of oven we have!

And in case you’re wondering, the cookies I was making were for Oatmeal Creme Pies! I will absolutely be sharing this recipe as it was incredibly delicious and approved by everyone who ate one (or three…)!

2. On my way to work yesterday, I got in an accident on the interstate. The car in front of me stopped suddenly and I just couldn’t stop in time. Thankfully nobody was hurt and just my car and one other were involved. I’m also very thankful that Rylie wasn’t in the car with me. She wouldn’t have gotten hurt, but I can’t imagine trying to take care of her while trying to sort through everything on the side of the interstate.

My poor car is hurting pretty badly, but Van’s dad said he can probably fix it. We’re also thankful that they’re letting us borrow a car and that we don’t have to rent one in the meantime!

3. This sweet girl had her six month check up and shots this morning. She did much better than I was expecting with the shots. These bandaids on her legs just kill me though!

4. Here’s a preview of her six month pictures! I’m so glad that I’ve stuck with this and have these photos from each of the past six months. She sits up so well by herself now, which made taking this month’s pictures a little easier than in the past!

5. Rylie got her first balloon at the party on Saturday and she was mesmerized. Between the string and the balloon itself, she couldn’t get enough!

6. Rylie was also cheering on Oregon State in baseball with her Beavers gear from our friends the Bishops. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough for them to pull out a win, but she still looked cute (despite the blurry picture)!

7. She doesn’t mean anything by it yet, but Rylie has been saying “Dada” for the past week or so! It’s so exciting to see her developing vocally and we often pretend like she’s really talking to us. Some of the sounds she makes really sound like real words!

8. I’m absolutely loving summer so far! Just having more hours of daylight and sunny days make me so happy. I’m not a fan of all of these storms though! We lost power several times last week and Van has had to work overtime quite a bit. Overtime has its positives, but we’re ready for him to get home by the end of the day!

9. And speaking of losing power, we’ve learned that it’s considerably more inconvenient when you have a baby/kids! Rylie doesn’t understand why our house gets hot or why we can’t turn the lights or her sound machine on. Third world problems, but we’re thankful for electricity!!

10. Tonight we’re having dinner with our friends Steve and Heather! We’re very much looking forward to seeing their baby Lily and Rylie interact, and of course big sister Emma!

We are having so much fun watching our sweet girl grow! The months go by so quickly and before I knew it, another month slipped away and she’s now six months old! Stop growing baby!

At five months, she began to roll all over the place. We could no longer walk away for a few minutes and return to find her in the same spot. She has been rolling over for quite awhile now, but she recently learned that she can roll to get things that she wants. About a week before she turned six months old, she started scooting around on her tummy. Once she gets that determined look on her face, she’s gone! At about the same time, she began working on her first tooth. It’s at the very early stages, but she is showing a lot of signs of teething: drooling constantly (although she’s been doing that for awhile!), putting everything in her mouth, not sleeping as well (boo!) and even refusing to nurse for several days at a time. That last one is difficult because it takes three times as long to feed her. Let’s hope it’s short-lived!

She has also started getting upset when something she wants is taken away and she usually smiles when told no, although she doesn’t have a clue what it means yet. Her changing pad is right under the window and we have to keep the blinds up when she’s being changed or she will pull on them. She has such a strong grip that I have no doubt that she could easily bring them down!

These pictures really show her personality, especially the outtakes where she’s being a little pistol! Oh how we adore this girl!

Click the slideshow below for outtakes that show how this photo session REALLY went down!

Three-day weekends are oh so refreshing! Memorial Day weekend was made even better for us as two of my best friends came to visit and meet Rylie Kay! We didn’t have any grand plans, but it was so nice to just be together for a few days! Jessica arrived on Thursday evening and I loved having some company on my drive home from work! I worked on Friday, but Jess entertained Rylie, which was super helpful.

The weather was just perfect so we went for a fabulously long walk after work (from our house to the end of North Union Street). When we got back, we were shocked to see that it was already 7:30! Our original plans were to get dinner before putting Rylie to bed, but we decided to shower instead and grab dinner on the way to the airport to pick Caitlyn up. Rylie’s bedtime is 8pm and because of that, I haven’t been out and about after 8 in nearly 6 months! I felt like such a rebel! We enjoyed some delicious burgers and fries from Five Guys and made it to the airport with perfect timing. The only problem was that the airport was an absolute madhouse, maybe because of Memorial Day weekend and the race. We finally got Caitlyn and then stopped at Cookout for a milkshake before coming home. Tasted just like college!

Saturday morning was nice and relaxing. We had plans to go strawberry picking at Cody Strawberry Farm and I’m so glad we did. Rylie Kay had on a little strawberry outfit and was just too sweet. She generally doesn’t care what we do, as long as she’s outside!

It didn’t take long for us to pick a full basket, so we decided maybe we needed a few extra! So delicious!

Rylie had her first little temper tantrum when we took the strawberry basket away from her. She had grabbed one and wanted to put it in her mouth, but she didn’t get her way. Such a mean mommy! Lunch and relaxing followed and later we had dinner at Afton Tavern. We had to take them there for the Cookie Skillet (for Elon people, Killer Cookie, but better)! And then I realized that Caitlyn doesn’t like chocolate, but she was still able to enjoy the ice cream and whipped cream since we ordered half without chocolate sauce. I think there are 3 cookies there. Mmmmm!

On Sunday after church we met up with Brittanie for lunch at PDQ! She drove all the way from Elon to see us and we had a great time catching up. Also, if you live in the area, I highly recommend PDQ (next to Concord Mills). Delicious chicken tenders and fries!

We made personal pizzas for dinner that night and of course enjoyed strawberry shortcake! Such a fun day. Caitlyn had to leave early the next morning so we were up and ready for the day much earlier than normal. Jess and I went for a 4 mile walk on the Greenway, which felt amazing considering all that we had eaten the day before! I’m going to have to do that more often! Rylie got tired of riding though and the only ways we could find to keep her happy were to hold her, run or sit her in the seat backward so she could see better. The running option didn’t last long and she eventually fell asleep. So sweet!

Jess planned it perfectly to have her flight leave shortly after I had to be at work on Tuesday. After a quick tour of my office, we headed to the airport and said our goodbyes. We had such a great weekend and I’m so thankful that they came all the way to NC to visit! We loved it!

Yay! It’s Friday!! For the past few weeks, it seems that by the time Friday comes I am so exhausted from the week and putting up a Friday Favorites post is just the farthest thing from my mind. But these are some of my favorite posts to put together because I love sharing all of the fun things I’ve found from all over the Internet. So this week, I’m back at it and hope you find some things that inspire and interest you too!

This week I managed to take Rylie on two walks, one for over an hour and a half and then another with Van last night to downtown Concord for the kickoff of Union Street Live. I’m trying to take full advantage of the nice Spring weather before the intense humidity of the summer sets in. Rylie loves being outside and she was happy to get out for a couple of walks as well!

She also enjoyed swinging outside for a bit. She wasn’t sure what to think the first time we put her in it, but now she smiles and starts to giggle when pushed.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my favorite finds from this week!

Favorite Savory Yum:Buffalo Chicken Cheese Ball. Oh my. This stuff is always a party favorite and I can imagine it’s just as good in cheese ball form!

Favorite Home Decor Craft:Magnetic Picture Board. Did you know that Martha Stewart makes magnetic paint?! Yeah me neither! Gotta get some of that asap! I have several projects in mind that it would be perfect for!

Well that does it for this week. I’m hoping to get several things checked off my list this weekend as we have two very special guests coming to stay with us next week! Hope you have a nice and relaxing weekend!

Sunday was my first Mother’s Day and I really don’t think it could have been any better! We had my parents over for a yummy breakfast of eggs, sausage, fruit salad and cinnamon roll bites (yum! recipe coming soon). It was nice being able to be with them again, if even just for a few hours. They kept Rylie occupied while we got ready for church. Love this picture of her and my dad!

Then it was time for some family pictures!

Shortly after my parents left, Van parents arrived and we took some more pictures before heading to church.

Rylie also got dedicated after church. She was in need of a nap and fell asleep while we were listening to the service, but woke up when it was time for us to go up in front of everyone. We are so blessed to have her in our lives and it was so special to dedicate her to our God.

We went to lunch with Van’s parents before going home and resting for a little while. I thought it’d be fun to take Rylie to the park for a bit. Of course she fell asleep on our walk there and stayed asleep as we walked around hoping she might wake up. We even watched some guys play tennis for a bit, but she was still happily asleep. Next time!

Van had the great idea to go get some ice cream from a place we’ve been wanting to go to for awhile – Papa Robb’s Paradise Ice. Van had Vanilla Ice Cream in a cone (from Deluxe in Mooresville!) while I had Pina Colada Paradise Ice. Rylie was so funny trying to get the cone out of Van’s hands. We will definitely be going back – so yummy in a fun, clean and colorful atmosphere.

A relaxing evening with my family to end a great day was just what I needed. I hope your Mother’s Day was perfectly special in its own way, whether you’re a mom or you were celebrating your mom or a mom you love!